Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 202

Chapter 202

But I hadn’t been listening to the rest. I’d been sobbing into Julian’s soaked shirt, shaking so hard my teeth chattered, and when I’d finally managed to choke out the words—“I can’t… I can’t do this, please, I don’t want to learn anymore, please don’t make mehed held me tighter and said, were rogs in certain, “Then you don’t have to. I won’t let anyone force you. And I won’t let you fall in again. I promise.

I promise.

The memory shattered as my back hit the sloped wall of the pool, jarring me back to the present. My lungs were on fire now, every cell screaming for exyzen I couldn’t give them. I tried to push off the wall, to angle myself upward, but my limbs were lead–heavy and uncoordinated, and the surface seemed impossibly far away, a shimmering barrier I’d never reach.

He’s not coming this time.

The thought was bitter and final. Julian was up there somewhere with Sloane, his pregnant fiancée, the woman carrying his child–the woman he’d chosen, the woman he’d always choose. He’d seen me tonight surrounded by half–naked men, holding a drink, looking every inch the girl Sloane had painted me as and he’d walked away without a second glance. Why would he save me now? Why would he even notice I was drowning when he had everything he wanted standing beside him, perfect and untouchable and his?

I have to save myself.

The realization cut through the panic like a blade. There was no rescue coming. There was no strong hand reaching down to pull me to safety. There was only me, alone in the water, with seconds left before my body gave up entirely and dragged me down to the bottom where I’d stay until someone finally decided I was worth fishing out.

Move. Kick. Do something.

I forced my arms to paddle again, choppy and graceless, more splashing than swimming. My legs kicked out in desperate, uncoordinated beats that seemed to do nothing but exhaust me further. I had no idea if I was even moving toward the surface or just churning in place, but I couldn’t stop, couldn’t give in, because the alternative was-

Something grabbed my ankle.

The shock of it sent a fresh jolt of adrenaline through my system. I twisted, trying to see what had caught me, and through the distorted underwater haze I made out a shape–a person–Sloane–her face eerily calm despite the chaos, her hand clamped around my lower leg with surprising strength.

For one confused second, I thought she was trying to help me.

Then she pulled.

Down.

My eyes widened in horror as I felt myself being dragged deeper, away from the light, away from air. Sloane’s other hand shot up above the surface, waving in what would look like a panicked gesture to anyone watching from above, but her face–her face was cold and focused, her lips moving in words I couldn’t hear but could read with chilling clarity:

“Go to hell, you fucking leech.”

She yanked harder, and I went under completely, the last pocket of air escaping my lips in a stream of bubbles. I tried to kick free, to wrench my leg from her grip, but she was a trained swimmer and I was a drowning girl, and the imbalance was laughable. She knew exactly what she was doing, exactly how to make it look like I was the one dragging her down while she “fought” to get free.

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Chapter 202

Above the water, muffled but unmistakable, I heard her scream Blara, let go! Stop pulling me under somone help, the’s the trying to d

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